


Midsummer's Eve

by Oparu



Category: Legend of the Seeker
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-20
Updated: 2010-12-20
Packaged: 2017-10-13 21:22:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/141853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oparu/pseuds/Oparu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zedd and Cara spend midsummer's eve talking about lovers around a campfire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Midsummer's Eve

**Author's Note:**

  * For [meridianrose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/meridianrose/gifts).



The more distant fires and the raucous laughter from the nearby village carried into camp, just soft enough to be heard in harmony with the crackling of their campfire. Cara stirred the coals, blowing on them as Zedd dropped a larger log onto the fire. With Richard and Kahlan off enjoying the midsummer festivities, it was only the two of them, and it was quiet.

Cara didn't mind the quiet. Not having a conversation was often more pleasant than having one and all the awkwardness that followed. So far, Zedd hadn't commented on the silence, and she'd made eye contact with him a few times to make sure he was content. He'd smiled that quiet, lazy smile of his, and she'd returned to what she was doing.

Checking all her armour: oiling the leather and polishing the buckles, Cara rarely had the time to do it properly without being attacked by Banelings, or woken in the middle of the night to fight off some terrible beast. As long as Richard and Kahlan remained out of trouble, she might be able to really take the time with everything and have it in pristine condition. Which was something that she'd rarely been able to do since she started following Richard and his "let's help everyone and save the world campaign". Helping the world was easier with properly oiled leathers.

She'd just finished her holsters for the agiels when the light changed. The golden glow of the fire shifted towards blue and she looked up, curious.

Zedd grinned at her over the fire. "Sorry, just trying something out."

"I need light, it doesn't matter what colour it is."

"Good. Light I can promise you. The colour is a work in progress."

Cara watched for awhile, letting her hands work their way across the leather as Zedd danced his through the air. The fire twisted and shimmer, changing from blue flames to a golden dragon bursting out of the logs, surrounded by blue sparks. His smile broadened, and he was pleased when the dragon returned to the logs and curled back up, forming an egg.

"Shouldn't it be a phoenix instead of a dragon?"

Zedd chuckled. "The feathers are difficult. Scales are easier."

"Dragons could live in a fire. I've never seen one that didn't."

"You've never seen what that did."

Shrugging, she moved a little closer to the fire, sitting on the log instead of behind it.

"I'm focusing on positive."

Zedd offered her a wineskin, grinning. "You hate it when Richard tells you to do that."

"If the situation involves fantasy creatures, focusing on the positive is appropriate. In real life, I find it less so."

The wine was sweet and light, something that fit the summer and the lazy heat still in the air.

Zedd waved his hands again, stirring the fire into a thicket of wild roses, then a horse: rearing out of the embers and finally a school of fish. While the firefish circled in the smoke, Zedd took the wine back and took a long drink.

"Midsummer is for lovers, which is fine and good when you have one, but desperately lonely when you don't."

Cara studied him, wondering if he really was lonely. He didn't lack for company when he wanted it. When they'd last stayed at an inn, the cook had taken quite a fancy to him, and there'd been a stablekeeper before that, and a charming blacksmith with very strong hands. She'd given Zedd a bruise or two but he'd worn them with pride. She admired that about him.

"I'm sure you could have found a lover prior to tonight if companionship were truly important to you."

Zedd sat back against his log, laughing up towards the sky. "If I didn't put in the effort, why regret it now?"

"Yes."

"I've always liked that about you, Cara. There's no middle ground, no wishing or hoping, just the space between wanting and having and if you want without having, well, then you're an idiot."

"I did not imply you were less than intelligent."

He passed the wine back to her, eyes twinkling in the firelight.

"You didn't."

Taking the wine, she drank instead of engaging with him. It seemed easier.

"So, why are you alone on midsummer's eve?"

She kept the wineskin and took another drink.

"I'm not alone."

"You and I are hardly lovers."

"I've had less appealing ones."

Zedd raised his eyebrows and nodded. "As have I. When I was of the age to be in your realm, I'm afraid I would have been sadly out of it, though, it would not have stopped me from trying."

"You were too arrogant when you were young."

"Oh?"

"I dislike arrogance."

"Funny words from a Mord-Sith."

"It is not arrogance when it is based in fact."

"When I was young, I was attractive and powerful, those were facts."

"But your arrogance went far beyond your allure or power. Even though both were considerable."

"You do know how to wound an old man, don't you?"

Cara frowned. "I did not intend to inflict pain, I meant to explain that you are more attractive now than you were as a youth. I imagine I may be similar, should I live to be of any age of note."

"You will always be beautiful, of that I have no doubt, and you may have a point, your compassion and caring may bloom with age, making you that much more attractive."

"You agree then, youth is not the most important aspect of a lover."

"Trust, compatibility and a good sense of humour go a long way towards cheering the bedchamber. Though as a youth, I would have been the last person to admit it."

"Few of my lovers have had humour." Cara frowned and then fought down the stinging of her eyes as she thought of Leo. "Trust is also rare, if even existent in the Mord-Sith. Someone was always plotting, scheming, trying to get ahead. The sex was good, but the cost of it was much higher than things are now."

"So you have had lovers?" There was no leer on his face, only friendly curiosity.

"A groom, three villages back. He had a kind smile and he smelt of horses."

He waggled his eyebrows, teasing her after he drank. "You like the smell of horses?"

"The good parts. Leather, and grass. Not the parts you're implying."

That made him laugh and this time, perhaps thanks to the wine, she laughed with him. The sound floated up, mixing with the sparks.

"I like the smells of the kitchen, wood smoke and spices, browning meat, flour and gravy. There's something homey about that."

"And cooks tend to be well fed."

"Is it a crime to prefer a woman with a little meat on her bones? Why are humans the only species that find starvation attractive?"

"I don't think it is the bones you look at."

"A little meat on the chest never hurt anyone, certainly not me."

"Not too much." Cara lay down next to him on the ground, letting her eyes drift along from spark to spark. She held up her hands, and demonstrated. "Too much more than two good handfuls and the pie feels overstuffed."

Zedd lifted his hand and put them next to hers. "Good thing my fingers are larger. I can have larger pies."

Cara shook her head, rolling her eyes. "You can."

"Not that I've ever turned down a small one."

"I doubt you've turned down many in your life."

Zedd hit her lightly. "Are you implying I'm less than discerning?"

She hit him back, grinning. "I'm just saying you're well fed."

"As are you."

"I have been."

"Good."

"I think so."


End file.
